The concept of the Polish Biographical Dictionary

The aim of the article is to present a concept of the Polish Biographical Dictionary (Polski Słownik Biograficzny, PSB), which has been published in Krakow since 1935 as a multi-volume publication of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU), and realised by the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the PAN. Over 28,000 biographies of people associated with Poland (and with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Commonwealth of Both Nations, and their fiefs), who lived or operated in the country and abroad from the time of legendary Duke Popiel (9th century) to 2000, have been published in 52 volumes so far. The concept of the PSB is presented in the historiographic context as well as the context of contemporary problems and challenges that the PSB is facing.

Sufi Dynastic Families in Pre-Mughal India

In South Asia the proliferation of Muslim settlements between the 13th and the 15th centuries was accompanied by the expansion of sufi fraternities. Sufis were revered as venerable figures due to their status as the possessors of spiritual grace and intuitive knowledge. Many sufis cultivated a comportment that was endearing, avuncular, and charismatic. They also gained renown for their textual productions, some more than others. Conventional historiography classifies sufis according to their affiliation to sufi silsilahs (spiritual order): Chishti, Suhrawardi, Firdausi, Qadiri, and several others. The linear perception of a silsilah as a chain of transmission of authority from a sufi pīr (spiritual master) to his murīds (disciple) and k̲h̲alīfās (spiritual successor), and the fixed notions about precepts and praxis have conflated the heterogeneous spiritual paths of individual sufis. Most of the spiritual orders did not expand in a unilateral manner. The classification of sufi silsilahs by similitude and differences precludes the complex, multistranded evolution of sufi praxis. The perception of a homogeneous silsilah is premised on the textualization of the genealogy of sufis in the taz̠kirāt (biographical dictionary).The perception that a hegemonic spiritual order is based on a linear and exclusionary chain of transmission of authority as evident in the taz̠kirāt can be challenged by taking recourse to the discourses of individual Sufis in the malfūz̤āt (utterances). The malfūz̤āt represent the spiritual path of charismatic sufi preceptors who relied on select historical personages from an “omnipresent past” to define their praxis rather than on a linear history of sufi preceptors. By contextualizing sufi texts in their contexts, the negotiation and competition among the lineal and spiritual descendants can be traced. In the 14th century neo-eponymous sufis effortlessly transited from one sufi affiliation to another (Nizamiyya to Chishti, for instance), but in the 16th century sufi texts highlighted the simultaneous, multiple affiliations of sufis, thereby complicating the history of the sufi silsilahs.

TO THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF NADEZHDA DMITRIEVNA KHVOSHCHINSKAYA: ABOUT THE DATE OF THE WRITERS BIRTH

The year of birth of the famous Russian writer of the second half of the XIX century Nadezhda Dmitrievna Khvoshchinskaya, who published her works under the nameV. Krestovskyj-pseudonym, is specified on the material of archival sources. The above information refutes the established opinion that the writer was born in 1824 or 1825 and allows us to say that 2021 is the year of the 200th anniversary of the writer. The author focuses on the question of the incorrect portrait representation of the writer in the 6th volume of the biographical dictionary «Russian Writers. 1800-1917».

Publishing of the Russian Historical Society

The paper is dedicated to the establishment of the Russian Historical Society in 1866 and its voluntary dissolution in 1920. A group of persons initiated the publishing of the “Collection of the Russian Historical Society” in 148 volumes and the “Russian Biographical Dictionary” in 25 volu­mes. In half a century of publishing efforts of a few persons, the Society has laid the foundation of Russian historical science.

РЕЦЕНЗИЯ НА МНОГОТОМНОЕ СПРАВОЧНОЕ ИЗДАНИЕ: БИОГРАФИЧЕСКИЙ СЛОВАРЬ ВЫПУСКНИКОВ КИЕВСКОЙ ДУХОВНОЙ АКАДЕМИИ: 1819–1920-е гг.: МАТЕРИАЛЫ ИЗ СОБРАНИЯ ПРОФ. ПРОТОИЕРЕЯ Ф. И. ТИТОВА И АРХИВА КДА в 4 т. / [сост. В. И. Ульяновский]. Т. 1: А–Й. Киев: Издательский отдел Украинской Православной Церкви, 2014 – 576 с., илл.; Т. 2: К–П. Киев: Издательский отдел Украинской Православной Церкви, 2015. – 624 с., илл.; Т. 3: Р–Я. Киев: Издательский отдел Украинской Православной Церкви, 2019. – 640 с., илл.

Аннотация. Опубликованные три тома «Биографического словаря выпускников Киевской духовной академии: 1819–1920-е гг.» – плод огромного труда нескольких поколений православных ученых XIX–XXI вв. Они составлены нашим современником киевским профессором В. И. Ульяновским на основе многочисленных архивных материалов, прежде всего собранных известным историком и богословом профессором протоиереем Ф. И. Титовым (1864–1935). В результате кропотливой работы составителю удалось подготовить огромный ценнейший свод сведений практически обо всех не только знаменитых и известных выпускниках Киевской духовной академии 1819 – начала 1920-х гг., но и большого числа малоизвестных. Ключевые слова: православие, Киевская духовная академия, богословие, биографические словари. Abstract. The published three volumes of the «Biographical dictionary of graduates of the Kiev theological Academy: 1819-1920» are the fruit of a great work of several generations of Orthodox scientists of the XIX-XXI centuries. They were compiled by our contemporary Kiev Professor V.I. Ulyanovsk on the basis of numerous archival materials, primarily collected by the famous historian and theologian Professor Archpriest F.I. Titov (1864-1935). As a result of painstaking work, the compiler managed to prepare a huge valuable set of information about almost all of the famous and repute graduates of the Kiev theological Academy in 1819 – early 1920 s, but also a large number of little-known ones. Key words: Orthodoxy, the Kiev Theological Academy, theology, and biographical dictionaries.